Water Drop Tutorial, Part I

Open sapling.jpg in Photoshop. If you want to,
duplicate the layer (control-J) and hide the old one.

Next we are going to delete the white space around the
photo. Select the magic wand tool from the toolbox on the left and set the
tolerance to 45. Click the white space. It should be selected.

Press the delete key.

Now we’re going to make the picture shaped like a tear.
Select the custom shape tool from the toolbox. (It may be hiding behind the
line tool. If so, just press the button with your mouse and several tool
buttons will pop up. Select the custom shape tool.) Then select the middle
button on the toolbox on top to draw a path. Select the tear-shaped shape. Draw
the shape on top of the picture of the sapling.

Click on the rectangular marquee tool on the top-left of
the toolbox. Right-click on the picture and select “Make selection…” Set the
feather to 0 pixels and click OK.

Right-click on the picture and click “Select Inverse.”

Press the delete key. Deselect the image (control-D).

Filter>Liquify…

Fool around with the tools. Here are some things you can do:

Select the forward warp tool at the top left. Set the brush size to about 180 and make the shape more like a tear.

Use the bloat tool to make it look more spherical.

Use the pucker tool to make part of the drop “pucker” in.

Select the forward warp tool at the top left and set the brush size to about 55 to make the top less pointy.